OK, so here's my story. Some of you might remember part of this from my veilside hood nightmare. I was in a serious accident with my Z back in July of last year. After many trips to the dealer, we have been unable to determine where this awful noise is coming from, and have deduced that it is linked to the bodywork I had done from the accident. In addition, another body shop professional had pointed out several areas where the shop cut corners and didn't do a really good job. Meanwhile, I am just sick about the whole thing, because there is no place to bring the car back to. The shop went out of business just as they "finished" my car. It makes this awful thunk sound whenever I go over a bump or slight decline and it is making me nuts. On top of that, it will make it that much more difficult to sell the car when the time comes. Actually, I had planned to modify the Z exensively and keep it forever, but now that it has been in this serious accident, I doubt that will happen. All of the joy of owning the Z has really been sucked out because of the accident and the shoddy repair. My question for the group is - do you think I have any recourse whatsoever here? I started to dispute the charge on my credit card for the repair (got back part of it, but they stopped returning my communications and requests for how they arrived at $592.12 out of $2500). My insurance company paid this body shop thousands of dollars for a crappy repair job. I am very doubtful that they will be interested in spending more money to fix what went wrong. Any suggestions here? I am pretty sure the shop went out of business in the first place for doing illegal business - and were shut down by the authorities. What do you guys think I sh ould do? I can't sell the car, because I would get killed on the loan. Do I just have to swallow this?

sundevil67

 

umm.... depending on what kind of legal entity the body shop is/was. You may actually go after the owners personally.

 

That is what I have been thinking - though my first mistake was to try and get that information from my credit card company - figuring that they would have to know how to contact these people if they investigated the issue and found at least partially in my favor - I mean, they gave me back the money that I spent to have a hood prepped and mounted (this work was never done). However they kept blowing me off to the point where I actually filed a complaint with the state department of banking. Once I figure that out, maybe I will file in small claims court or something....possibly having to name my insurance company in the suit.It is a tough situation. I am trying one of those prepaid legal services to see if they can get anywhere first.

 

My car got shot up with BBs two weeks after I bought an 06en. My insurance company gave me a list of approved body shops and said if I use one on their list the work will be guaranteed for life. You may want to see if you have something similar. It sounds like if they were a shady body shop, they probably didn't have this arrangement with the insurance company.

 

Sorry to hear about your situation, i do understand how you must feel, ive been there myself before with other cars... I had my MK3 supra in the shop for 1 year(!) and they never fixed the problem, they changed and charged me for new stock turbo, headers etc. After a year i left the car to an enthusiast who also had a Supra, fixed the problem on one evening, it was a leaky hoose(!!)...

For the "thunk" sound, check your suspension. I had clunks when driving over un-even surfaces on my previous car and it turned out to be that the shop had missed to install a spacer for the rear damper...

/Roger

 

The Nissan dealer has taken apart the suspension and checked and rechecked it - it sounds like the actual body of the car snapping back into place. They told me the frame has been stretched at every corner, even though the body shop assured me there was no frame damage, because I would have gotten rid of the car right then and there. The body shop was very shady, but I went there because a guy that had helped me at a previous shop moved over there and he treated me well. He didn't realize at the time that he moved to such a shady shop and eventually quit before they got shut down by the authorities.

 

after my accident, my car made thumping noises over bumps as well. turned out after ripping my car apart, that it was missing a piece of sound deadening material. after that was added, all was well. good luck

 

Quetion, Was this body shop recommended by your insurance company?
If so then your insurance company is lieble to have the car re-repaired to its origanal state priar to the accended. Number two, did you file for a diminished value claim? Go after them for the Diminished value of the car, here is a web site called, Autoloss.com they are in Portland, Oregon but they deal in many states for vehecual losses, like your and mine.

My insurance company has a list of approved body shops and said if I use one on their list the work will be guaranteed for life. Witch i did, and i have a little paint chip, so im taking it back and they will fix at no cost to me.

 

Very difficult. The shop is most likely incorporated: shop funds are separate from personal funds. You can file a claim against the shop (if it exists) but not the owners.

Afraid you are going to have to bite the bullet on this one.

 

Take it up with your insurance company. Bottom line is the car is not fixed, and they need to fix it. If the shop is out of business, then it has to go somewhere else. Its not uncommon for insurance cars to have to go back to the shop for this or that, so I don't think it will be a big deal except that you have to find a new shop.

Don't ask them - tell them the car is NOT fixed and you expect it to be fixed to a reasonable level, i.e. no thunk noises everytime you go over a bump. If they do not want to fix it you probably have a legal case. You haven't signed anything saying its fixed and you're satisfied, have you? Be firm and know your rights as an insurance policyholder. Also, get on top of that diminished value information ASAP.

This is why you have insurance to protect yourself against being stuck like this.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

That is definitely my next move - but I want to have all of my information prepared before I go to them. I am going to go to the new shop this week and get an exact estimate on a correct repair. Thanks for all of your input!